Jay-Z Rocks SXSW at AmEx Twitter Event [PICS]

American Express Taps Jay-Z for South By Southwest Concert

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

A sea of camera phones lit up Jay-Z's free concert Monday night at South by Southwest during an event for American Express's new Twitter-based discounts program.

Although the show at Austin City Limits Live was reserved for AmEx cardholders with SXSW badges, American Express offered a livestream to the masses. The footage is still available to watch here.

AmEx pimped its recently announced Twitter initiative, which allows AmEx members to sync their cards to their Twitter account for hashtag-related savings, at the concert venue.

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Brandon Fuller

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Mashable's Morgan Berk

Jay-Z Performs at SXSW

Photo by Mashable's Morgan Berk

A sea of camera phones lit up Jay-Z's free concert Monday night at South by Southwest during an event to promote American Express's new Twitter-based discounts program.

Although the show at Austin City Limits Live was reserved for AmEx cardholders with SXSW badges, American Express offered a livestream to the masses. The footage is still available here. The entire show will be rebroadcast March 18 on Youtube and on-demand on XBox LIVE.

AmEx pimped its recent Twitter initiative, which allows AmEx members to sync their cards to their Twitter account for hashtag-related savings, at the concert venue.

"We set out to mix technology, commerce and music on a stage like no other and we think we nailed the perfect artist, the perfect time, the perfect place and the perfect audience," Leslie Berland, SVP of digital partnerships and development at American Express, told Mashable. "The engagement on Twitter during the stream was massive."

Concertgoers, including Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda, flooded the event's official hashtag — #jayzsyncshow — with tweets and photos. Shinoda was there live-tweeting for Rolling Stone magazine.

Jay-Z's involvement with the sponsored AmEx event should come as no surprise. His star power and presence on social media greatly expanded the AmEx campaign's reach.

The rapper's response to his now two-month-old girl, Blue Ivy, has blown up on the web and on Twitter. Two days after Blue Ivy was born in January, he and wife, Beyonce, released an audio recording of the infant. The Jay-Z song "Glory" (listen below), which he performed Monday night in Austin, features Blue Ivy at the end of the track after the proud poppa raps: "Words can't describe what I'm feeling for real. Baby, I paint the sky blue. My greatest creation was you."

Jay-Z announced the song Jan. 9 via a tweet, which includes a link to the track on his web site Life + Times.

A month later, the proud parents released five photos of Blue Ivy via popular microblogging platform Tumblr.

Jay-Z's baby made a name for herself before she even had a name or was born. At the end of a performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in August 2011, Beyonce confirmed her pregnancy by dropping her mic, unbuttoning her top and rubbing her baby bump.

The "bump" moment broke Twitter's tweets-per-second record at the time with 8,868 tweets per second. Four unrelated events have since surpassed it in the Twitter record books.

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is a leading source for news, information and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.